On a tangentially related note, how in the world does a story where a foreign leader directs a US president to over-ride his Sec. of State get buried in all the major news outlets?

Not only is the account outrageous, if true, but it has got to be one of the worst things for us in terms of national security.

What kind of nitwits in the White House (and press) can't see the immense amount of short and long term damage that something like this will cause?

(Link to story at sig)

... or so it has been said.

So far, Mr Obama has said that he does, and has shown some sign that he is amenable to it.

Credit where it is due. I don't have much faith in the man, or the system of which he is a willing part, but credit where it is due.

With a little luck, you might be the next Ann Coulter.

The theme is so important, that is, that we not equate criticism with an absence of veneration for Obama. But, I wonder where the powerful push points are?

We have a Congress that systematically ignores what constituents such as I consider important.(My unanswered/robo-answered contacts about impeachment, among other plaints, attest to this, and I sense that many who bother to make contact experience the same.)

I'm also aware of a neighbor, a long time democratic party activist. My impression of her is that she is little other than giddy about the process of transplanting parties. She appeared to me eagerly focused on the convention/nomination then, the inauguration now. It feels like she likes the ostensible power of it all.

We have what I consider a wildly misguided misuse of potential with Move On doing little more than cheerleading, and steadfastly refusing to look at itself, to consider strategic media tactics to employ in a manner such as embodied by the "make me do it" FDR ploy. And Move On professes a membership of 5 million.

And the corporatist media is so embedded in the workings of the political class, so utterly pliable, that it does for the most part play the role of political accident chasers and stenographers. (I only saw a snippet of Bush's farewell press gathering; got no sense that anyone had the slightest intention of, for once, challenging his lies, let alone his pissy demeanor.)

So, how do we pull the feedback together so as to attempt some traction in a setting such as the above?

You are an incredibly effective attack dog for common sense and intellectual honesty, Glenn. It is why I read you every single day.

Speaking of criticizing him where needed, you should consider criticizing the intelligence of some of the initial details coming out of his economic camp regarding his initial moves to stimulate the economy:

1) A $500 tax break for individuals and $1,000 break for families is not going to do much of anything to relieve families' financial woes, get them out of foreclosure, or help find them a job. I (and most others) will certainly take it, but I look at it as a pittance of a return for the billions of dollars robbed from the economy and the vast majority of citizens by the Bush tax cuts for the rich,

2) Obama wants the other $350 billion from the TARP fund. Where in the HELL did the first $350 billion go, and why is there no accounting for it? IT IS OUR MONEY FOR SHIT'S SAKE! Why are banks allowed to refuse to answer how they're using the money? What good has come from this treasury hijacking that has or will affect the average taxpayer in any meaningful way? Is he going to do to better track where the rest of the money goes, besides putting his ear to the wall and listening for the loud flushing noise that's surely to come?

3) I would gladly give up my $500/$1000 tax credit, refund, or future-generation IOU (whatever you want to call it) if he'd put that money aside for fixing healthcare, or better yet, funding an independent investigation and prosecution of those responsible for the billions stolen, wasted, and misappropriated from the Iraq War, starting with Halliburton, Blackwater, Bechtel, Boeing, and others. It's all there in the GAO reports, plain as day. The money wasted by these frauds alone would fund a new healthcare system, rebuild our roads and bridges, or help real citizens save their homes and jobs during this downturn. And yet by ignoring this problem, it will only go on bigger and better in the future, ensuring our MIC swallows more and more of the wealth of our nation.

Why are such basic questions either going unasked, or worse, unanswered when they ARE asked?

The real problem is we have a gov't that is not accountable for anything and everything it does. And it is ruining the country, brick by brick.

Put some real shark's teeth into accountability, Mr. Obama. Until you do, our country's slide into financial, political, and moral ruin will go on unabated.

Though a bit over the top in my "really mattered", most would agree that the two wars, torture and habeas corpus were political issues that really matter (among many others that Bush showed defiance).

-- behindthecurtain

Pressure is more effective when it comes from those who usually support you.

Bush, to the best of my knowledge never once went against the rightwing whackjobs once they meowed, much less roared. If someone can nudge my memory, it would be appreciated.

If the left keeps the pressure on Obama, it will make the Whackjob's pressure much less effective, even if Obama wants to do their bidding, he must always think about his base. While that base probably isn't to the extreme left, I'd say center left, he will still respond more favorably when he can claim he stood up to the radical lefties. That's precisely what McCain was doing with his Maverick thing. McCain's problem was his voting record and the questions about his judgement in re the Queen of Wasilla.